16 Months

Alabama, you are now 16 months old! You are such a big girl now! To me, you look like a little girl now instead of a baby. It is amazing how much you know and do. You are saying more and more words. You can say mama, daddy, poppa, nana, granny, lee lee, kay kay, book, baby, and you will try to say more things when we ask you to. Although, they usually come out sounding like nana! ha!You talk constantly! I know you'll be completing full sentences before very long! I love to hear you talk! It's so cute!

You can also point to your nose, mouth, teeth, eyes, belly, feet, toes, hair, face, and hands. Such a smart girl!

You love to climb up stairs. This was at Aunt Georgia's house. Today, I ran inside to get our bags while you were playing outside and when I came back, you had already climbed up the steps on the porch. I can't leave you for even a second!

You usually sleep about 10-12 hours a night. You still won't go to sleep by yourself, but I'm fine with it for now. Lately, your naps have been hit or miss. Somedays you take a long two-three hour nap, and somedays, I can barely get you to cat nap! You usually wake up happy around 9 and are ready for a nap about two hours later.

You love to sing songs. You know all the motions to "Climb, climb up Sunshine Mountain" and we must sing it at least seven times a day! ha!

You're such a sweet girl! You give such good kisses and hugs....the best in the world!

We went out on the boat last Saturday and you loved it this time! I was so happy! You liked to ride and swim and get in your float.

You definitely know what you want these days....and are sure to tell us! We're going to have to work on these little outbursts you are having when you don't get your way! Drama. Queen.

Some of your favorite books are still all the animal books, "Put me in the Zoo", "Where's Baby's Belly Button", and a book we borrowed from Ryan that has different numbers of objects on each page. You like the pages with the babies and the bottles the best. I'm so glad you love to read.

You are such a fun girl! I love you so much! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter! BTW, ......slow down! I'm not ready for you to be so grown already!

like a fish in the sea

Well, okay, not really, but it sounded good!....and Alabama is doing so much better in the water now! She "graduated" from her Water Tots class at the Y on Thursday. The last couple days she did great! She didn't cry or cling to me. She loves to sit on the side of the pool and splash her legs in. She likes when I hold her in the 'swimming position' and I say "kick you legs, swim with your arms" and she thinks she's really swimming! She also does great "floating"... not by herself of course, but I lay her back and she floats with her head on my shoulder and we sing "Twinkle, twinkle, Little Star". She's not a Number One Fan of going under water yet, but she's getting so much better with it! She also loves to go outside to the 1 foot pool and play with her cup and walk around in it and to all the little fountains in the pool. She did not want to get out when they have those 10 minute breaks!

This is her sweet instructor, Rebecca. She was so good!

She even asks me to go "Splish Splash" now! So we go outside in the little pool Leslie gave us. This was a week ago, and we went out this Saturday, too.

She also has a fun time playing in the water table that I got at a yard sale a couple months ago for $5!!!! Yes, $5! I wish it wasn't sooo hot every single day so we could go outside a little!

Now if we can just get her over the fear of other people's bath tubs! ha!

1st Day of Summer

Happy First Day of Summer! Although it has felt like summer for SEVERAL weeks now with the temperature being well into the 100's many days already! I guess we're in for one HOT summer! We spent the first day of summer playing inside, going to Wal-Mart and visiting with some friends! Then we went to my parents and had hamburgers, homemade fries, and green beans for supper. Yummy! Oh, btw, Wal-Mart has some new Paula Deen desserts! They are so good. I tried the Lemon Ooey Gooey Butter Cake and the Chocolate one, too. They were on clearance...but the Lemon was the best! Look for them in the bakery section....or maybe you shouldn't! ha!

Look at this face!

"Mama, I want to go OUTSIDE!"

Swimming

So, Alabama started swimming lessons this week. She got off to a rough start, but has done a lot better since Monday! This is her holding on for dear life! ha!After the lake, I was expecting a total meltdown! On Tuesday, we learned to kick, which she loves to do! She just kicks her feet and giggles....it's soo cute! We also learned to go underwater, which she did NOT love. She did pretty good with it though. I was very surprised! We sing Ring around the Roses, and then blow in her face and go under. I was nervous, but she only got a little choked one time. Thursday, she didn't like it when she went under at all. Her favorite part of class is when we sing "The Wheels on the Bus" at the end of class. We've got one week to go....I'm ready for the end!

But, despite all that, she is, of course, the cutest one there!!!!!

Unfading beauty

Friday before last, I participated in the "Pearls for Girls"event at church for our youth/college girls. It was really fun but really tiring! I think I did 44 faces in about two hours! Woah! Anyway, just wanted to share what God laid on my heart to share with the girls. We did mini-makeovers and with each step of the makeover, I gave them something that they could think about/pray for as they are doing it each day. I thought it would be a great way to make sure your heart is in the right place at the beginning of the day. It definitely applies to us all, not just younger girls! I didn't have much time to share so I felt like I was speaking so fast they probably didn't hear everything so if you're reading this girls, I hope you will print it out to keep with you and apply to your life!

As we as girls strive to look our best, we usually will wear makeup.
Makeup should enhance the beauty that God gave us as women, not distract from it.
Ask yourself the question, “What is my reason for accessorizing/wearing makeup? Is it to draw attention to myself? Just as we should do everything as unto the Lord, (work, school, etc.) it should be the same with looking our best. Many beautiful women are mentioned in the Bible.
Rachel was “lovely in form, and beautiful” and Bathsheba was “very beautiful.”
We all want to be beautiful and it’s not wrong to want or to do so, but it can’t be the most important thing.

“Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” 1 Peter 3:3

“Women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do….continuing to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.”
1 Timothy 2:10, 15
Wow, how awesome is that? God gives us a specific list of waht He finds beautiful and attractive!

As we go through these “beauty treatments” I want to give you an idea that you could use each day as you put on your makeup. Remember these verses and pray about these specific things for your life with each step that you do. It can really help you keep a proper perspective.

Wash your face:
Praise God that He has washed your sins away!!!!(Acts 22:16)

Moisturizer:
Pray that you will thirst for righteousness! Matt 5:6 says “They that thirst for righteousness will be filled.” Not money, fame, love, power…but righteousness!

Foundation:
Pray that your “foundation” would be solid and built on the Rock! Matt. 7:25

Bronzer
Bronzer helps to give you a little shimmer and a sun-kissed look.
Pray that your light would shine before men- that they would see your good deeds and praise the Father in Heaven. Matt 5:15-16

Eyes:
Pray that your eyes would be fixed on Jesus and you would turn away from worthless things.
Psalm 119:37 – “Turn my eyes away from worthless things”. Wow, how powerful to think that He can help you look upon things that are worthy!
Hebrews 12: 2 says “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus; the author and perfecter of our faith.”
2 Corinthians 4:18 “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.”
Matt 6:22 –23 – “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Your perception and spiritual insight can be easily clouded by so many things. To see the world from God’s point of view we need to serve him and fix our eyes on God.


Lips:
Guide my lips, Lord. May I only speak what is good, pleasing, and uplifting. Not harsh words, gossip, or slander.
“May my lips overflow with praise, for you. Teach me your decrees. May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous.” Psalm 119:171-172
“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” – Proverbs 16:24

15 Months

Alabama, the months are flying by and you are 15 months old now!

This was just about a year ago....wow, how you have changed!!!

You weigh about 26 pounds. You wear size 12-18 month clothes and a size 4 diaper. You can now wear size 4 shoes. I love dressing you in all your fun summer clothes we have! I know it's a little excessive, but you have about 50 dresses right now! ha!

You are such a fun girl! You love to laugh and play.

You tickle everyone and sometimes like to be the "kissing monster" where you will almost bite my face as you are kissing me hard all over! Here Daddy is being attacked! ha!

I can't help but die laughing when you are "kissing" me. It's so funny!

Here you and Jenna are riding Uncle Bo! You love to do fun stuff like that!

You still LOVE to be outside all. the. time!!!!! You play in your house, drive your car, ride in the wagon, swing, and just love to run around outside!

You have begun to be such a Daddy's girl! You want him to hold you and can't stand when he goes out without you! ha!

You love to eat! You eat all kinds of foods now. Your favorite is probably green beans and grilled cheese. (or when your aunts give you sweets!) You still drink your milk in a bottle about 3 times a day. You love to snack on Cheerios now, too.

You like to get dressed and bring me all kind of clothes and socks and shoes to put on. This is you wearing one of my high heel shoes. You are really starting early, girl! ha!

You are so good most of the time, but you have a few meltdowns now and then, too. Thank goodness they usually don't last very long!

You say so many sign language words like duck, dog, cat, frog, fish, book, eat, more, bottle, baby, bath, phone, hat, pig, music, bird, flower, book, car/truck. You can do animal sounds for the cow, owl, horse, and the turkey. It's so cute!

Out loud, you can say baby, bottle, mama, daddy, and yeah. You know what everything we say means and you talk to us ALL day long. I don't know what you're saying, but you sure do! ha!

You are sooo smart! I know every Mama thinks her baby is smart, but I am amazed every day at how much you know!

You love to sing and dance to any music. Your favorite song is still "If you're Happy and You Know it" because you do all the motions to it!

We took you on your first trip to the lake out on the boat, but you were not feeling it. I think we'll wait a while to try that again!

I love you soo much! You're the sweetest girl in the whole wide world!

Weekend recap

We had a busy weekend.....whew...thank goodness for rainy Mondays. ha!

On Friday, we went to visit our friend Casey and her little boy, Ryan. Isn't he such a cutie??!!He and Alabama had a fun time playing together with his toys and at the park in their neighborhood. Thanks so much Casey for having us over and for making us a wonderful lunch! (I'm going to try to make that pretzel strawberry recipe!)

After we left her house, we headed to Atlanta to pick up my sister, Alicia, from training. Alabama was asleep before we got to the gate and slept the whole trip! We stopped at my favorite store...Last Stop Thrift Store in Decatur. The thing I love about it is not only do they have nicer things, it is all organized by size!!! yay! I found a few goodies then we headed home.

On Saturday, we went to my Nana's in Gibson to go fishing with some of our members of the Augusta GCB. For some of them, it was their first time fishing! Here is Alabama in her wagon ready for the day. My Daddy caught two or three. I caught one at the end. Just to say I fished! ha!

Here is Alabama with Nana. (She's probably going to kill me for posting this picture!ha!)Thank you so much for letting us come over! We had a great time!

After we left, we went home and took a shower and had a quiet night at home. After Alabama went to sleep, me and Adam watched "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". I forgot how funny it is! Cute movie + Hot Matthew McConoughey = Fun!

Sunday, we went to church of course! It was graduate recognition Sunday. The little preschool graduates were so cute and made me realize how fast Alabama will be that big and graduating from preschool! wow! Bryan preached a wonderful message on trusting God during a crisis. What are you trusting God for today? Whatever it is, He is big enough to handle it!!!

Well, I'm off to clean up my office on this rainy Monday! I've got 3 hours to get it done!!